Charge Your Devices With the Choetech Portable Solar Panel

As more of our lives become digital, having a simple way to keep our devices charged poses a dilemma when out in the field, hiking, or during a power outage. Luckily, there are many solar options available and with each passing year, they get lighter in weight and lower in cost. Plus, as technology advances, the panels are producing more sun-juice then the portable systems that were available a mere three years ago.

Why should preppers care about charging our digital gizmos? After all, if the grid is down, cell service will be INOP as well. The simple answer for me, at least, is that my devices are a virtual library of knowledge, crammed with eBooks, PDFs, photos, and a bit of entertainment to keep me occupied during dire times.

What I Like About the Choetech Portable Solar Panel

From the 10,000 foot level, the Choetech does exactly what it says it will do. Unfold the unit, expose the 3 panels to the sun, then plug up to two devices into the integrate USB ports. Whether you plug in a smart phone, eBook reader, tablet, or external battery pack, using the built in smart technology, the device will immediately begin to charge. No fiddling with cables, no figuring out which of the two USB slots to use (they are both the same), and no technical ability required.

Coming down to the one foot level, the best part of all of this? I have one to giveaway to a lucky Backdoor Survival reader! More about that in a moment.

Choetech Smart 19W Solar Panel: The Basics

In my usual style, I am not going to give you a 2 page laundry list of specifications. You can find those on Amazon. Instead, I will walk you through the key features.

First of all, it is truly light weight. I weighed it myself and it came in at 15 ounces, less than a pound. This is important because if you want to include it in your Bug-Out or Get-Home Bag, every ounce counts. (Remember that I like my pack to weigh no more than 20 pounds – a challenge at times.)

Size wise it is also compact, measuring 10.25″ by 6″ when folded up, pouch-like.

The two USB ports put out the same amount of power. What this means is that both are rated the same so a tablet, for example, can be plugged into either port. There is no guessing involved.

When the solar panels are facing an adequate amount of light, a red light in the charge controller with illuminate, letting you know that everything is working the way it is supposed to. Of course I confirmed this myself. If you have Apple devices, and especially an older iPad2 like mine, you know how persnickety they can be when charging. Even with the supplied adapter and cable from Apple, sometimes they refuse to charge.

Over a period of days, I used the Choetech to charge my iPad and it worked 100% of the time. I wish I had kept better notes on the charging time but the one time I did keep track, my iPad went from 15% to 100% in about 3 hours.

The Choetech comes with a single mini-USB charging cable. That worked fine but only fit my Kindle. I used my own cables for the iPad, iPhone, and EasyAcc power brick (which can be charged superfast using 2 cables so having two fast USB ports was a bonus).

The cables, as well as smaller devices that are being charged, fit into a zippered mesh pouch on the rear of the panels, keeping things nice and tidy.

The Giveaway

The deadline is 6:00 PM Pacific next Tuesday with the winner notified by email and announced on the Rafflecopter in the article. Please note that the winner must claim their prize within 48 hours or an alternate will be selected.

Note: Due to Customs requirements, this giveaway is only open to residents of the United States.

The Final Word

As the technology advances, portable solar panels become more reliable and less expensive. In addition, the all important form factor improves. On all accounts, the Choetech 19W Solar Panel ranks right up there as one of my favorites.

Getting some assistance from Tucker the Awesome Wonder Dog and his Kitty!

I hope you will take a few minutes to enter the giveaway but if you want to get your hands on a unit sooner, between now and March 8th, Choetech is offering BDS readers a $6 discount on Amazon using code 4LIQ3GUN. Here is a link: Choetech Light Weight Portable Solar Charger.

Enjoy your next adventure through common sense and thoughtful preparation!
Gaye

Bargain Bin: Below you will find links to the items related to today’s article plus a few other personal favorites.

Choetech 19W Solar Panel: This lightweight and compact solar panel works great. The two integrated USB ports are both rated equally so you do not have to fiddle around to see which one will work with your device. For a limited period, Choetech is offering Backdoor Survival readers $6 off using code 4LIQ3GUN. The code is valid from March 3 to March 8.

EasyAcc Monster 20000mAh Power Bank: This is a robust power bank that can be charged from your laptop, a wall charger, or a solar charger. This one is beefy, with 4 USB ports that can be used at once. It also appears to hold its charge for a long time. I charged mine up then set it aside for a couple of months, When I pulled it out of its box, it was still fully charged. A nice unit if you are interested in this sort of thing.

Maximal Power FC999 Universal Battery Charger: This nicely built charger will charge charge AA, AAA, C, D, N, 9V, Ni-MH, Ni-CD, and Alkalinebatteries. It has an LED display so that when you first put a battery in the charging bay, you know whether it is viable for charging or simply bad and ready to go back to the recycle box.

10 Pack Mini LED Flashlights: What a great deal on 10 mini flashlights on a key ring – button batteries included. I happen to like a more sturdy ring so I remove the one that comes with and use a small bit of tie-wrap (zip tie) instead. The included battery seemingly lasts forever and at this price, you can stash them in the car, purse, pocket, tool box and by the circuit breaker box, and still have some left over for other uses.

As of this writing, all 10 are under $4.00 in black, although from time to time they are available at that price in colors. Shipping is free.

Need something from Amazon (and who doesn’t)?

I earn a small commission from purchases made when you begin your Amazon shopping experience here. You still get great Amazon service and the price is the same, no matter what.

Amazon has a feature called Shop Amazon - Most Wished For Items. This is an easy tool for finding products that people are "wishing” for and in this way you know what the top products are. All you need to do is select the category from the left-hand side of the screen.

I really prefer paper for reading novels for enjoyment, and for cookbooks. However, I use an iPad daily for catching up on news, research, staying in touch. I bookmark lots of articles for easy refernce later. We also just got a Fire, but I haven’t mastered it yet. I would love this solar charger!

Following reasons:
– easier to hold, tends to be flexible.
– you can make notes in the margins
– highlight specific lines / passages
– you can find your notes an highlighted sections easily
– never require batteries or recharging
– if the grid goes down, paper and books still work

When I do use an electronic device it’s an iPad, versatile and reliable.

Books are a tactile and a visual experience and I love the book smell but with severe carpel tunnel in both hands holding a book is a painful experience. Also with an electronic reader I can enlarge the type to help with my poor vision. I have a firm office chair and a 23 in monitor, with a one finger click I can turn pages and with hundreds of free e-books from Amazon I read for cheap.

There are some things I want/need to have a hard copy of, but for the hundreds of books and reference material I’ve downloaded my tablet is the way to go. These sounds like a light weight, simple to use layer of protection!

I prefer paper. I love holding a book & love highlighting and writing notes right on the pages. I also have a kindle filled with valuable material for away from home and quick access. I think most of us have a foot in both worlds!

I prefer paper. There is nothing like the smell or “cracking” open a new book to read. I don’t have a Kindle or I-Pad but have used one of my friend’s Kindle. I really don’t like it, DH has a lap top that we use right now. Both of us due to knee surgeries can’t get to the desk top in the basement office just yet. Guess I will have to join the 21st century at some time but I really do prefer having the paper. this would be awesome to win so I can keep the laptop running for DH.

It depends on when! Many times I prefer printed. The printed pages do not require any power except manual power. But, there are other times when I like the digital format. For one thing, you can store much more info on digital than you can on paper. That is in the same size or weight.
Preferred digital device? Kindle apps! I usually try to get digital books without DRM, but sometimes a particular book is only available with DRM protection. With non protected books I can convert to PDF format and print them if I want to.

I prefer digital over paper, but keep paper copies of my most important resource books. Paper is harder to destroy than digital, but digital is much more portable and with a solar charger like the one in this article it’s easily maintained for months to years if its not abused.
I’m definitely a big fan of the Kindle and while it’s my favorite, I also use an iPad and iPhone both for reading Kindle books and for other web activities. But in a bug out situation, the iPad is being left behind and the Kindle is being put in the backpack.

I use my tablet with Amazon kindle app. I love all the free books that you find for us ????????
I love all the great information that you share with us.
I also try to have hard copies of important information to have in bug out bags and in our vehicles.
And of course in our bug out locations.
Thank you for all that you do????

I prefer paper for “keepers”. Non-fiction for the most part. History, Bios, reference, etc. Also prefer paper for “classic” fiction. Basically, if it’s something that I likely will read or refer to again, then I’d rather have a hard copy. E Readers are great for “entertainment” reading, due to the simple fact that the volume of reading material that you can house in such a small space is wonderful.

I have an old Kindle “keyboard” that I generally use for most of my reading right now. It has actual buttons to push to turn the page instead of “swiping” so is less likely to accidentally turn pages. It has been acting hinky and has a couple of cracks in the casing and so probably is not long for this world. So its the one that I carry with me, if it gets stolen, lost or broken, not such a great loss.

I bought a Kindle Fire HDX as a replacement, but found that I really don’t care for it as a reader. I LOVE it as a tablet, but I prefer a dedicated reader and so recently bought a Kindle paperwhite. Truth be told, I prefer the old Kindle, but its not going to last forever and they are no longer available.

I have lots of paperbacks for the family. I pick up DIY and other prepping books when I find them on sale. I am storing tons of free DIY, recipe and preparedness books on my kindle. Having a way to keep the kindle charged when we lose electricity is critical.

I am totally old school – I prefer hard copy. I love books. Besides if stuff gets bad enough we may not have Internet and good old books will be priceless. Having said that – my whole family is totally digital. Kindle seems to be their preference.

If the book is a good reference book and available in paper, I try to get it on my shelf. That also goes for fiction that I plan to reread. For other books, especially the “freebies” that Gayle finds on her Facebook page, I put those on my Android tablet. Since I like using real books so much better, I sometimes “forget” about the ones on my tablet 🙁 Old habits die hard. I’ve had my tablet for about 18 months and am still trying to get used to it.

I usually lean toward digital because of the ease of carrying a large number of resources, which is difficult to do with paper and nor get weighed down. I do have a few paper book resources in by kit though just in case. I primarily use my phone or laptop.

My preference is both. Depends on the situation. Books are good because I highlight and make margin notes. My kindle reader is good because there can be a lot of books on it and is easily carried. Libraries are hard to carry in a pack.

I love my paper books but I am trying to downsize so I am moving more to digital. I have two Kindles, with the newer one being a Fire HD and that’s fancy enough for me. I have a backup ereader that’s very easy on the eyes (non-Kindle) that’s lightweight for daily travel.

I definitely prefer paper, it’s probably because I’m an old fart! The only thing I have that I can read digital on is my laptop. I have looked at various digital readers but it looks like in addition to the cost of the unit and the cost of the book there’s also a fee or extra cost for 3G connection to the internet and/or the unit only works on wi-fi and we don’t have Wi-Fi set up in the house and 3G connectivity is questionable here as well.

For around $25 you can get a wireless router. You could then use a reader or your smartphone without using 3G. I’m a techy old fart but with online help anyone can set one up. If you are using the internet without a router you are exposing yourself to online crooks.

Multiple comments:
– I prefer Kindle for reading. It’s just so handy and easy to carry. However, when there are graphs or diagrams involved (technical stuff) my preference is paper.
– I have the Goal Zero Nomad 7 solar charger. I’m surprised at how full-sun vs. partial sun affects the output. Full-sun isn’t just noticeably better, it’s like partial sun barely works. That is something which reviews like this should check.

Kept paper material for so long – everything from old notes to knowledge ABOUT US history, physics and more. But recognizing that simply storing stuff can lead to more and more stuff, well, I have to let some of that go. Cant hold on to everything. So I’m convinced keeping paper essentials file for the go bag for emergencies and quick reference, but having a portable digital plus solar charger – multi-purpose device such as a phone where I can read pdfs and other notes – greatly expands knowledge on the go.

Normally I would prefer paper because in my opinion nothing will ever take the place of holding a book in your hand. But lately, I’ve been switching back and forth from paper to digital. It really depends on the mood I’m in. I prefer kindle as my digital device.

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MEET GAYE

I'm Gaye, just an ordinary gal trying to make sense of our changing world. I am addicted to prepping, DIY projects, adult coloring books, and ballroom dancing. I live what I call a strategic life and believe you should too. Everyone needs to prepare for the worst and live for the best. Won't you join me?